Good afternoon, Chicago.
It’s Election Day. Polls opened Tuesday across the nation and Americans cast ballots in the 2024 presidential election. In a deeply divided nation, the election is a true toss-up between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
We know there are seven battleground states that will decide the outcome, barring a major surprise. But significant questions persist about the timing of the results, the makeup of the electorate, the influx of misinformation — even the possibility of political violence. At the same time, both sides are prepared for a protracted legal battle that could complicate things further.
Here’s what to watch on Election Day 2024, including the results in Illinois and Indiana.
Here’s what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/latest-headlines and sign up to get our alerts on all of your devices.
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Voters begin lining up before dawn on Election Day; close to 1,000 voting locations open across Chicago
Around 5:30 a.m., Hayet Rida, a 35-year-old who lives in the Loop and became a U.S. citizen last week, was waiting in a line with about two dozen other voters outside of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners’ Super Site on Tuesday.
“I’ve lived here for 17 years, and I feel like all the laws and stuff applied to me, but I’ve never had a say in anything, so to me, (voting) was a big deal,” Rida said near the corner of North Clark Street and West Lake Street.
About half an hour later, thanks to the help of about 8,000 election judges and other poll workers, nearly 1,000 voting locations opened across the city. Chicago residents can vote at their assigned precinct polling place or at any of the 51 vote centers across the city. All locations will close at 7 p.m. Read more here.
More top news stories:
- Melrose Park police remove Trump campaign flag from building
- Democratic-backed justices look to defend control of Michigan’s Supreme Court
Many retailers offer ‘returnless refunds.’ Just don’t expect them to talk much about it
It’s one of the most underpublicized policies of some of the biggest U.S. retailers: Sometimes they give customers full refunds and let them keep unwanted items too.
Returnless refunds are a tool that more retailers are using to keep online shoppers happy and to reduce shipping fees, processing time and other ballooning costs from returned products. Read more here.
More top business stories:
- New Lenox smokehouse closes after more than two years, owners ‘devastated’
- Glencoe 6-bedroom home with conservatory and pond: $3.6M
Bears trade RB Khalil Herbert to the Bengals for a 7th-round pick
The Bears made waves at the trade deadline the last two years as a buyer. This time they’re selling, sending running back Khalil Herbert to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Herbert was seldom used in the first eight games and hoped to get a chance to play somewhere — and that will happen as general manager Ryan Poles completed a deal Tuesday for the Bengals’ seventh-round draft pick in 2025. Read more here.
More top sports stories:
- Cubs ‘looking to be creative’ at GM meetings with roster clarity following Cody Bellinger’s decision
- First College Football Playoff rankings will be revealed tonight with host of unbeaten and 1-loss teams in mix
Al Pacino writes in ‘Sonny Boy’ about life, love, death and the movies
Rick Kogan met Al Pacino one September afternoon long ago at the wedding of David Mamet and Rebecca Pidgeon at a place called Stillington Hall in Gloucester, Massachusetts, about an hour’s drive northeast of Boston. As the family gathered for pictures under a huge tree on the lawn, Pacino said, “C’mon, let’s get in on the pictures,” to Kogan and to his female companion, who said, “Stop kidding around, will you?”
Now, some 33 years later, he has encountered Pacino again, on the 370 pages of his spirited autobiography “Sonny Boy,” and he is not kidding here when he provides a thoughtfully introspective but also oddly remote journey that begins with his childhood in a South Bronx tenement. Read more here.
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Tropical Storm Rafael spins toward the Cayman Islands as Cuba prepares for hurricane hit
Tropical Storm Rafael chugged toward the Cayman Islands on Tuesday and was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane en route to Cuba. The storm was located 105 miles southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, early Tuesday. It had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and was moving northwest at 13 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
“Rafael is forecast to become a hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean near the Cayman Islands with further strengthening before it makes landfall in Cuba,” the center said. Read more here.
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